Tuesday, June 14, 2016
On Saturday, day two in the UEFA Euro 2016, debutants Albania lost to Switzerland 0–1; Wales defeated Slovakia 2–1; and England and Russia shared the spoils at 1–1. Russia was later penalized — today — by the UEFA.
The match was held at Stade Bollaert-Delelis stadium in Lens, France. Fabian Schär scored a goal early in the match. Albania’s captain Lorik Cana was sent off in the first half after picking up a second yellow card.
The Swiss had greater ball possession. Schär scored a goal in the 5th minute and saw a yellow card around the 13th minute. In this match, Granit Xhaka played against his brother Taulant Xhaka.
As Wales took on Slovakia, Gareth Bale scored from a free-kick in the 10th minute of the game, providing an early lead to Wales. Slovakia had greater possession in the match, but they were trailing till the 61st minute. Ondrej Duda was brought on in place of Patrik Hrošovský as the match reached the one hour mark. In the next minute, he scored an equaliser. In the 81st minute, Hal Robson-Kanu scored the winner for Wales. Slovak captain Martin Škrtel was the last man to be booked, in injury time. The match saw five yellow cards, all for Slovakia players.
Though the first half of the match saw no bookings or goals, supporters of both of nations created much trouble for the French police. Marseille witnessed hooliganism before the match began. According to The Guardian, the UEFA threatened to disqualify both Russia and England if their supporters repeat this behavior.
In the match, Eric Dier scored the first goal in the 73rd minute. There were just two bookings in the match — Gary Cahill of England in the 62nd minute and Georgi Shchennikov in the 72nd minute. As the match was inching towards the final whistle, Vasili Berezutski scored in injury time, and the match ended in a 1–1 draw.
Today, the UEFA fined the Russian Football Union €150,000 for supporters’ misbehavior; and put them on probation, in the form of a suspended disqualification from the tournament.